Napoli set Lucca an October ultimatum, and plan B has changed

The club sent a blunt message to agent Beppe Riso — "This can't go on" — and named October as the month of truth. If a sale is really needed in January, this time it won't be another loan to Nottingham.

by Gennaro SanninoWednesday 30 September, 21:08 CET· 2 hours ago

Lorenzo Lucca — Foto: Original: Giova36 / Derivative work: Danyele · CC BY-SA 4.0

Napoli have set a limit on Lorenzo Lucca, delivered through his agent, Beppe Riso. The message passed on in recent days is direct: "This can't go on." It isn't a vague nudge — the club has named October as the month in which the striker must prove he deserves a starting shirt, or face another departure in January.

Così non si può andare avanti

The numbers have been the same for weeks: zero league goals this season, just two since he arrived at Napoli, against the €35m paid to Udinese on 20 September. Head coach Allegri continues to back him — from Wednesday 30 September, work with assistant coach Landucci is focused on crossing and positioning inside the box — but the performances aren't matching the staff's efforts.

The fixture list opens with Frosinone at the Maradona on Saturday 10 October at 20:45 CET, the start of a run of nine games across the league and the Champions League, with Villarreal, Venezia and Bodø/Glimt coming within a few weeks. With Højlund the squad's only genuine focal point up front, Lucca will get his chances out of necessity — but the club's patience will run out if the goals keep not arriving.

A different plan B

The change from last season is in the plan B. Facing a similar situation a year ago, the solution was a loan to Nottingham, in England. This time Napoli are thinking differently: if a sale really does happen in January, the club would consider a loan in a league the striker already knows, Serie A, to build him a more favourable environment and try to arrest a valuation that a prolonged goal drought risks only driving down further.

The name being floated as a January alternative is Keinan Davis, the Udinese striker valued at around €20m — in effect a swap, with Lucca leaving Napoli on loan and Davis taking his place in the squad.

Whose fault is it?

The real question is who is responsible for reaching this point. Napoli closed the transfer window chasing other names — Vlahović ruled out on cost, Gabriel Jesus falling through, Icardi turned down — and turned to Lucca with the season already under way, on 20 September. An ultimatum for a striker bought only weeks earlier, with the team ninth in the table and only one centre-forward truly ready, says more about the summer's planning than about Lucca's ability to score.

Napoli go to Frosinone with 7 points from 5 games and two good results in a row following the draw in Florence. Saturday will show whether Lucca has taken up October's challenge, or whether the road to January is already written.